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As I was on my computer, listening to TMZ in the background, I heard the story about the Kitson/Drug drama. If you aren’t aware of what happened, just search for it, or read an article here. If you look on Kitson’s facebook page, you’ll see tons of people pissed that Kitson would sell this product. If no one was paying attention to the abuse of these prescription drugs, I can bet they’re getting a lot of attention now.

Here are my thoughts:

This whole controversy is BS! People are complaining because people die from abuse of these drugs. People die from alcohol abuse, but no one gets angry when people walk around in shirts advertising alcohol. Yes, alcohol is legal, but so are these drugs when prescribed by a doctor. As a person that has had addiction issues, I choose what I put in my body and a stupid t-shirt won’t make me change my mind either way. It’s just like society to place blame on others instead of taking personal responsibility for their actions.

When I was 17, my mother died from Cirrhosis of the Liver. She abused alcohol for years. Should I start a petition and ask that alcohol never be advertised on a shirt?

Before discussing all the controversy around these shirts, I showed my 14 year old son the picture of them. He wasn’t livid, he wasn’t appalled. I explained the controversy around these shirts to him and asked him if seeing these shirts would change his mind about drugs. He answered “no”. He volunteered that he believed someone wearing it would look foolish. My 14 year old has seen what drugs and alcohol does to people and doesn’t want to go down that path. I believe I raised him to be a critical thinker rather than follow the status quo.

If we’re going to place blame, let’s start with the drug companies that continue to manufacture drugs that are known to be addictive and known to be abused. Let’s blame the doctors writing prescriptions to known drug addicts and to people that don’t have a legitimate need for the drug. Let’s blame the parents who don’t teach their kids enough about abusing drugs or don’t pay attention to their kids to realize their is a problem before it’s too late. We can also blame our good ol’ US government for giving these drugs FDA approval. Oh, let’s blame the media and music industry too! So many rappers nowadays glorify drug abuse too. Lil Wayne is the first one that comes to my mind.

People get mad because a designer used something to make money, but aren’t mad at the drug companies that continually push a product known to be addictive and abused. I can’t go into a doctor’s office without seeing crappy medicine advertised. They give the doctors samples and in turn, the patients receive them.

This whole issue bothers me because I have suffered from addiction. Alcohol was the one I struggled with the most. I also had an addiction to pain pills. They were prescribed to me and I had a legitimate need. I didn’t realize where I was going until my primary doctor made me aware and had me wean off. Would I get angry because some designer made a shirt with Percocet on the back? No. I refuse to use the product. If more people did, the drug industry wouldn’t be so lucrative anymore. They want us addicted. It means more money.

At the end of the day, someone suffering from addiction has to make the choice to stay clean and not use. If they choose to use, they’ll do it regardless of a stupid shirt. If they can’t get prescription drugs to abuse, they’ll abuse street drugs. It’s a fact of like. Let’s stop placing the blame and learn personal accountability.

P.S. I ordered one of these shirts. Personally, I like them. I would never wear it in public, but I wanted one so I ordered one.

May be my new go to drink. Yesterday, I blogged about Spirulina and how I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about Spirulina considering the reviews posted on Amazon, here and here. I made some vegetable juice using red vine tomatoes, sunburst tomatoes, celery, carrots and kale. I added a little seasoning. Sample the juice. Check. Add a teaspoon of Spirulina. Check. Blend juice well (I used a blender bottle). Check. Sample juice again. Check.

The verdict is: my juice tasted like vegetables with and without the Spirulina. Since I just did this roughly 20 minutes ago, I’ll have to wait and see if I feel like it has any effect on me. Some people reported increased energy and a general sense of well being after using this supplement. Some of the positives sound too good to be true, so I’ll listen to my body and see if it’s worth me using this supplement on a regular basis. A pound of this dirty green stuff runs almost $30.

I had another great dessert idea today and had to go with it! I wanted something with peanut butter in it because I’m peanut butter obsessed as is the rest of my family fortunately, and I thought about a yellow cake with Strawberry Jam in the center and peanut butter frosting. It turned out better than I thought and everyone in my house loved it! I can’t not share so here is the recipe

In a previous post, I talked about the juicing book I bought, The Big Book of Juices, by Natalie Savona. Some of the recipes included Spirulina. Spiru what? Spirulina. In my research, I found out that it’s a Superfood derived from the Ocean. What was never mentioned (until I read an Amazon review) is that it is dark green and stinks. In this review for Spirulina powder marketed by NOW foods, it’s described as everything except delicious, great-tasting, and platable. However, in this review, many say Spirulina can be tolerated. Apparently, where it’s harvested has a lot to do with the flavor which makes a lot of sense. The Spirulina I bought is harvested from waters in Hawaii. The earlier product from Now is harvested in India and it stinks (literally, lol!)

I describe myself as adventurous, so I immediately ordered a bottle of Spirulina Powder to add as a supplement to my fresh vegetable juices. I just got it today, so I haven’t taken it for a test drive. To be completely honest, I’m a bit scared. I opened it up and it looks exactly as described: dark green powder resembling algae. I quickly put the top back on and put it in the fridge. Now all I have to do is make some vegetable juice, mix the Spirulina and Juice using this Blender Bottle I bought, as take it all down….I’ll be sure to check back in once I’ve become brave enough to drink the juice…

I just don’t feel right if I don’t start my day off with a tall cup of coffee. Since I’m frugal, I rarely buy it while I’m out, but instead make it at home.

As frugal as I am, I’m usually drinking whatever is cheapest. BUT, I got lucky this week. One of the savings blogs I follow, made a post about 1/2 price coffee from Cost Plus World Market. If you aren’t familiar with them, I would say they’re like a cheaper version of Pier One. For all those foodies out there, Cost Plus also sells different “gourmet” items to add to your kitchen.

Now, where I’m from, I would have just hopped in my car, went to the store and picked it up. Unfortunately, I’m 3,000 miles away from home and there’s no Cost Plus here. In order to feed my ultra unhealthy caffeine addiction, I was forced to place an order from coffee. Here’s a picture of some of my stash:

I ordered 12 bags of coffee, some of them duplicates, because I have to feed my caffeine addiction I’m hoping I like them. At roughly $2.50-$3.50/bag, I’ll take my chances. I can’t even get Target’s brand of coffee for that cheap and I have their employee discount (shows you just how much they love their employees lol).

But wait, I didn’t explain the best part! In addition to saving 50% on each bag, I got 10% off my order for joining their World Market Explorer Program. The program offers 1 free bag of coffee for each 6 purchased and a $10 reward for every $100 worth of “gourmet” spending. According to my account, I earned 4 free bags of coffee, although I think the math is wrong because they also offered double coffee rewards…how awesome, free is F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C!

I woke up with the thought of making Enchiladas for dinner, but as the day progressed, it warmed up and I decided grilling would be much more fun. I cleaned my chicken and marinaded it in my top secret special ingredient, Lawry’s Baja Chipotle Marinade. Minutes before I began, I found out that one of my local grocery stores was running a special on Lawry’s Marinades, making them $1 ea, when they normally sell for almost $4 ea. In a hurry, I made sure the chicken was bathing in Baja Chipotle so I could rush to the store and clean them out of it.

At the end of last year, I bought some of the Baja Chipotle marinade on clearance at Target. I figured hoped that Target was the only store getting rid of it. Unfortunately, I was wrong. It appears that my favorite marinade has been discontinued. My grilled chicken will NEVER be the same again. I’m devastated….you know how I feel. We all have that special ingredient or favorite cooking accoutrement that we use to give our meals that special ummph. What am I going to do?!?!? I’m so devastated that I had to send Lawry’s an e-mail about this. I can’t believe this is happening.

I normally make my famous grilled chicken by seasoning to taste and letting in marinade in the Baja Chipotle for as long as possible. Once the grill is smokin’ hot, I throw several pieces on the grill, turning frequently and basting with the marinade. Once it’s finished, I take it off the grill, let the juices rest, then serve hot. It’s a hit! All the years I’ve made this chicken, no one really knew what the secret ingredient was. All people know is that they couldn’t duplicate it, nor could they eat just one piece.

Since I only had one bottle of the marinade left, I intended to get another at the sale, but that was a bust. I had to resort to using some barbecue sauce to baste as I have this thing where it’s a must that I baste my meats on the grill. It looked delicious, but when I tasted it, I was disappointed, upset, angry, and hurt. How could Lawry’s do this to me?

The chicken was great, cause I’m an excellent cook and I rarely make anything that’s less than tasty :0), but it wasn’t what it should have been! Lucikly, the potato salad and baked macaroni & cheese saved the meal from being a complete disaster. We were supposed to have some cabbage too, but I couldn’t bear cooking anything else after the Lawry’s disappointment/disaster/fiasco.

As devastated as I am, I’m now on the lookout for a new ultra secret ingredient to make my grilled chicken famous again. I’m covered for my next grilling session or two because I found a six pack of Baja Chipotle Marinade on Amazon for a reasonable price. In my wildest dreams, Lawry’s would wake up and fire that person who thought it was wise to discontinue my chicken’s favorite sidekick, but until then, I need something new to get my chicken kickin’ again. Anyone have any ideas?

UPDATE: I made this last weekend and I have to say, I have never been so impressed with one of my culinary creations. This recipe was perfect! My almost two year old, that normally despises shrimp, ate more of this than I did. It was easily doubled and EVERYONE enjoyed this. I will definitely make it again. Move over Red Lobster, here I come.

I do have to admit, my creation didn’t look as good as Barb’s over at Life in the Foothills (where I happily stole this recipe from), but it tasted D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S! I thought I had Panko bread crumbs, but it turned out I didn’t, so I used regular Italian Bread Crumbs that I had on hand. I do want to try this again with Panko. However, anyway you make it, it will be great, so hurry, gather the ingredients and make this mouth watering delicacy.

P.S. Barb suggests having a glass of the Sauvignon Blanc with dinner. I think it’s a must :o)